While the Seattle Japanese Garden is a gorgeous example of a manicured Japanese garden, Kubota Garden, located in the Rainier Beach neighborhood, takes a different view of nature: it’s sprawling and almost wild.

I got out to the Seattle Japanese Garden to do some 紅葉狩り (momijigari, maple viewing or “maple hunting”) on October 28. Momiji season is a few weeks earlier in Seattle than in Ishikawa. The garden, which is part of the Washington Park Arboretum, was built in the Japanese style in 1960 by Junji Iida.